The commercial aviation sector is well known as a high-end market for advanced technology and development; this brings many levels of engineering complexity resulting in maintenance costs as well as mandatory regulation to ensure safety.

Globally fragmented regulation of the aviation sector and the regulation of the financial sector which facilitates its growth in recent years have resulted in hugely increased oversight by aircraft owners and lessors when managing an asset of such value as a commercial aircraft to ensure compliance with the regulations and the aircraft lease.

CAS (Civil Aviation Services Limited) is engaged in the technical management of commercial aircraft and this involves the in-depth understanding of aircraft leases from a technical point of view, together with the airworthiness regulations, as we continuously have to provide the oversight on the managed aircraft to our customers.

The aircraft owner or lessor ensures continued aircraft oversight of the asset by performing an annual inspection of the aircraft and records, this inspection is performed by CAS on the managed aircraft and requires the timely review of the aircraft and recent records without affecting the operator’s schedule.

On completion of the review, the written report, and the photographs, operator maintenance status reports and compiled records are uploaded to the CARDS archive for lessor review and acceptance. The lessor can then opt to share the findings with the operator using CARDS to facilitate the closing of these findings, and in so doing close the loop on the process to clearly show the benefits of the Annual inspection oversight process.

The Annual inspection is normally done according to the comprehensive CAS Annual inspection checklist but can also be done according to the lessor’s checklist and requirements if needed.

The aircraft asset management solution manages any and all lease obligations for Lessor or owner, including but not limited to:

• Monitoring and recording aircraft flight hours and flight cycles utilizations for calculating and monitoring maintenance reserves

• Managing eligible claims from maintenance reserves

• Oversight on airframe / engine / APU or landing gear maintenance visits

• Performing Annual inspections

• Proving oversight in the event of an incident or accident

• Chairing lease extension or aircraft redelivery meetings

The asset management solution optimises returns on transactions, and manages deposit accounts for lease rentals and maintenance reserves paid by Lessee.

Other asset management responsibilities include advising customers on end of lease as well as end of life solutions for aircraft and engines.

CAS provides Continued Aircraft Maintenance organization (CAMO) support through partnered aircraft engineering companies.

Our engineers are experienced, trained and approved to provide the service which is required from time to time in-house to support our core business.

CAS (Civil Aviation Services Limited) is engaged in the technical management of commercial aircraft; this is our core business. The culmination of how good the aircraft's technical management is is clearly visible in the aircraft delivery or re-delivery process.

The aircraft delivery or re-delivery involves the in-depth understanding of aircraft leases in particular from a technical point of view and the airworthiness regulations pertaining to the aircrafts jurisdiction.

As we continuously have to provide the oversight on the aircraft for the owners and lessors, this knowledge base is continuously being updated by new issues presented from projects which have to be substantiated and verified case by case.

This knowledge base built up by CAS and by CAS engineers, most of which have over 20 years experience in the Aviation business, in turn helps us prepare better for the aircraft transition and allows us to deal with the issues in a timely and cost-effective manner to manage it through the re-delivery or delivery process for the customer.

CAS provides EASA Part 21 and FAA DER/DAR engineering support through partnered aircraft engineering companies at competitive rates.

Our engineers are experienced, trained, and approved to provide the service which is required from time to time in-house to support our core business.

The modern aircraft lease which is normally broken into a head lease and then specific lease agreement is a complex document with various clauses referring to:

• Financial industry & Banking law

• Aircraft Airworthiness requirements from one or more jurisdictions

• International Transport law

• Aircraft type specific engineering issues

• Aircraft Engine type specific engineering issues

• Application of risk and liability

• Delivery & Re-delivery conditions

• Application of maintenance reserves as well as the aircraft lease payments

Often we see the lack of understanding or due diligences by one party to an aircraft lease agreement. This leaves a high cost exposure to the party re-delivering the aircraft or the party re-marketing the aircraft. In most cases it results in a delay of the aircraft on rent and a stressed debate between the parties at the point of delivery or re-delivery, which then reverts back to commercial compensation.

In most cases the aircraft lease agreement will reinforce the laws and airworthiness requirements applicable at the time and will try to future proof the lease for the term against the changing laws and regulations. The interpretation of these changes is where the acute issues occur, and it is only with active continuous knowledge of the subject that one can foresee the issues that can arise on a delivery or re-delivery project.

CAS actively manages over 40 aircraft transitions per year and has an industry leading proven track record in project management as well as engineering ability and experienced team to deliver or re-deliver the aircraft on time. This experience allows us to be able to assist customers at the point of lease negotiations and avoid the pitfalls of high cost at re-delivery.

Aircraft heavy maintenance checks are rarely performed by the aircraft operator due to the overhead cost of maintaining a heavy maintenance hangar and the required staff. As such, this heavy maintenance outsource is a significant cost to the operator at the 18 month or 24 month intervals that the heavy maintenance checks occur, and the management of these checks is often critical to the airline's ability to ensure a full flight schedule.

CAS provides 20+ years of aircraft heavy maintenance engineering and commercial experience to the customer at the point of MRO contract negotiation. This will ensure that contracts are competitive, in compliance with applicable airworthiness regulations and allow for the customer's dynamic requirements. The resulting knowledge of the contract and agreement also befits the customer when it comes to reviewing the invoices for the MRO to ensure the terms of the agreement are being adhered to and recharge figures are correct.

CAS will also manage any warranty claims arising from these contracts using CAS’s engineering skills and experience to administer warranty claims, customers will receive an optimal return.

In conjunction with our Technical Project Management this will ensure that the aircraft heavy maintenance visit is correctly setup to allow for the most cost-efficient check V’s the best option for ground time.

At CAS we support our core business of aircraft delivery and redelivery with aircraft spares and component supply. We have preferential rates as well as reliable contacts in the industry, both in Europe and USA, to locate the most cost-effective parts solution for the given lead time. In turn, this helps to keep the cost of the aircraft delivery / redelivery within budget and on time.

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CAS (Civil Aviation Services Limited) is engaged in the technical management of commercial aircraft; this is our core business.

A key factor in the technical management of the aircraft is how well the asset is managed through the maintenance, overhaul, and modification events. As we have provided a full range of services in this area for many years, we often see aircraft which have been inducted to maintenance by an airline, and then not managed properly resulting in high over spends on maintenance and, in some facilities, very poor defect findings and rectifications.

The result of poor aircraft technical project management is high cost and budget overruns at aircraft delivery or redelivery.

Due to the nature of aviation, the costs of the maintenance overrun are always multiples of what it would have cost for proper management in the first place, thus it makes both commercial and technical sense to ensure that key people are in place with good solid contracts from the outset.

Aside from the airframe itself, the aircraft engine is the most expensive and singly most complex part of the engineering solution that is in an aircraft. Its technical management therefore is of paramount importance to ensure it keeps its value and continued ability to perform as well as airworthiness (TC) approval which can be compromised by poor commercial decisions, use of alternative replacement parts of lesser value, or even non-OEM approved repairs at shop visit.

CAS provides the engineering expertise to review the engine condition, its proposed work scope and work with the owner, the operator, and the chosen engine shop to get the optimal result for the customer and follow through to manage the lease rentals and recover the engine maintenance reserves paid by Lessee.

CAS also provides engine transportation stands/cradles for rent to support this engine shop visit management service.

It is a requirement in modern lease agreements for the operator to seek the approval of the lessor when it comes to choosing the aircraft MRO and, in many cases, the lessor will require an audit of the MRO if they do not have recent experience in the proposed MRO.

As every Maintenance Repair Organisation (MRO) is approved to either of two basic standards, EASA or FAA, the audit process is relatively straightforward and follows these standard's regulations.

The MRO audit is performed according to the CAS MRO audit checklist by one of our experienced heavy maintenance engineers with Part 145 audit experience and this report details any issues observed as well as the MRO approval documents and facility photographs.

The report is then discussed with the customer and any issues highlighted which would be a cause for concern to ensure the aircraft as an asset is not compromised or its value affected during the impending check by the MRO’s ability or infrastructure.

Our sister company, Cloudcards, can provide you with software solutions for the aviation industry. Cloudcards specialises in bringing aviation to the cloud computing world by offering cloud-based asset management (AMS) and aircraft transitions (CARDS). The software is built upon some of the world’s leading platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, and AWS making management and implementation cost-effective, secure and simple.

With over 35 years experience in aviation and design across the team, CloudCards was founded to ensure aircraft leasing companies and airlines have access to systems that are built according to industry best practice standards and using the best available technology.